P51 - Hit or Myth?

[Speedbird083]

What about the F6F Hellcat? Didn't that have the best kill ratio of any aircraft in WW2, or was it just in the Pacific theatre?

[CaldRail]

The Db601A was indeed fuel injected and thus negative-g manoevers were more practical than early merlin equipped aircraft. But actually, the Yougoslavs found that the DB-Hurricane had improved take-off (possibly climb rate too but I don't remember off-hand) and speed, resulting in an aircraft only just slower than a Bf109E.

Ah yes... The Pacific. You're not wrong, but it wasn't just the Hellcat. The Corsair for instance shot down 2000-odd for the loss of 189 machines. Look at what happenend over there. Japanese pilots at the beginning of the war were very skilled indeed - they had fought in China and invaded the SE Asia belt thus had plenty of experience - a vital commodity.

However - The japanese mind-set preferred one-on-one combat so early japanese planes were designed with manoeverability in mind. And manoever they could. Early on the allies were enticed into dogfights where the Japanese pilot had the edge. The Japanese were dictating tactics. Our aircraft favoured speed. Once we learned to use hit & run tactics and avoid mixing it in pitched dogfights the japanese lost tactical advantage. They tried to counter by designing faster fighters but they could not compete with US production capacity and manpower. They also struggled with reliability and technical issues. As they themselves predicted, they could only really have won by knocking the US for six early on. They failed.

[CaldRail]

As a last word on the Hurricane, You mentioned the healthy 40mm cannons of the IID version. Yep - Strong stuff. But it isn't all sweetness and light. The recoil was such that the aircraft would nose down 5 deg after each shot. And if a cannon jammed for any reason? At best the aircraft would yaw and you'd miss. At worst you'd precipitate a spin. Given the normal low altitude use of IID's that means you have a couple of seconds to realise you're in trouble and write out your last will and testament.

Generally speaking though, I would like to add that WW2 fighters were designed and produced in real hurry. You didn't have two decades to sort out every last niggling problem like you do now. These aircraft, despite all the superlative reports you get in magazines, are very hairy powerful machines. Things happen very quickly indeed.

Which is one reason why experience is so important in air combat. Next time you see a documentary, pay special attention to the gun camera shots. Eight out of ten times the target is simply sitting there waiting to be shot. He never saw you coming. Think about that.